Absurd Interview with Yours Truly

I was recently interviewed by Ryan C. Thomas for his blog Skinny Man's Lair. If you haven't read any of his Absurd Interviews, then you're missing out. He picked my brain and THIS is how it turned out.

Guest Blog Post

I recently wrote a guest blog post called "I Have Ghosts, How 'Bout You" that was published today on Armond Rosamilia's blog. I thought writing about my personal ghost experiences was a good theme for the month of October. It also fits into the theme of my latest novel People of the Ethereal Realm, a ghost story that does not take place in an old scary house. If you have moment, please give it a read, and while you're there take a moment to peruse Armand's blog.

The Genesis of People of the Ethereal Realm

I recently did a pair of guest posts on the wonderful blogs of Craig Saunders and Ken Cain. The essay is called The Genesis of People of the Ethereal Realm, done in two parts. Below are links to each post, and while you're there be sure to peruse the rest of their blogs. A lot of good stuff there.

Part one, dealing with how I came up with the idea for People of the Ethereal Realm, is available HERE.

Part two, detailing what I learned while getting the book published in the small press, is available HERE.

KillerCon Bound

In one week my wife and I will be setting forth on a venture like no other.  We will head out on a five hour journey to the land of dinging slot machines, hookers, despair, excitement, alcohol, glee, money, tourists, heat, fun, fuck-it-all, and KillerCon.

That's right. We're going to Las Vegas.

While not my first tme in Vegas, this will be not only my first KillerCon, but my first convention (discounting the many times I've been to San Diego ComiCon as a teenager). On top of that, I will be hosting a table in the dealer's room for Post Mortem Press. Damn right! I'll have a number of books available from the PMP catalogue as well as my novel People of the Ethereal Realm.

If you're going to attend KillerCon, I hope to see you there. Look for me at the Post Mortem Press table. Stop by and say hi. Maybe you'll find a book you'd like to buy. Remember, what happens in Vegas may stay there, but the books you buy from Post Mortem Press go home with you.

Cheers!

Robert

Do You Write When You're Sick?

So I have a four-year-old. He's a great little boy...most of the time. Hyper, yes; energetic, of course, but for the most part he's a wonderful and sweet human being. However there is something that comes with having young children that is the bane of my existence. Something those of us who wash our hands regularly, don't stick our fingers in our mouths, don't sit on the floor in public places, and don't stick our tongues on everything manage to avoid.

I'm talking cold and flu here. And that son of mine manages to get sick as much as he possibly can, perhaps in the interest of causing his father to become sick so I have to stay home from work. That could be it, after all. The kid could have a master plan in mind when he's sticking his tongue on the table at a restaurant or touching every goddamn thing at kid-level in every store and then sticking his fingers in his mouth. 

Yeah, maybe he's doing it on purpose so dad gets sick and has to stay home with me.

Well, whatever the reason, I was sick on Friday and Saturday. It was some kind of bastard summer cold that attacked my sinuses something wicked. The kind of sinus pressure that makes one dream of lobotomy. And the sore throat...I don't remember swallowing any sandpaper, but apparently I did. I sat around most of the time reading Downfall by Michael S Gardner (review to follow), watched some documentaries on biker gangs, dozed off a bit, read more, and...

Well, I tried to write, but for the life of me I couldn't get my thoughts together enough for the task. In those two days I may have typed out a grand total of 250 words--maybe! A sentence or three of uninspired drivel better left on the cutting room floor.

As it has been since I began writing, it remains: I cannot, for the life of me, write while I'm sick. It seems like a great time to write for someone who works full-time, but that just isn't the case, so I fell behind the schedule I had created for myself this month in regards to my work-in-progress. I started on August 1st, aiming for one thousand words a day. The manuscript looks like it will round out between 20K and 30K, so I am determined to finish the first draft by the end of August. I should be at 12K by the end of the day, but I don't know about that. I had fallen a little behind before I became sick, and even more so over the course of Friday and Saturday. I'll write more tonight. Hopefully I can take my 9K words and elevate them toward my goal.



So, if you find yourself with a nasty summer cold, you've been placed on supreme couch duty, why not download my latest book onto your e-reader and forget about your misery by losing yourself in some good ole horror? Various formats are available at: amazon, Barns and Noble, and smashwords.

Keep it horror!

Robert

People of the Ethereal Realm - NOW ON SALE!

That's right, folks! My second novel of horror, People of the Ethereal Realm, is now available in trade paperback from Post Mortem Press. I'm very excited about this release.  I hope those of you who decided to read the book have a good time with it, and, of course, I hope you will be kind enough to leave your comments in an amazon or goodreads review. Word of mouth is so damn important for us struggling authors.

Barbara comes to Adam at night while his wife is working the graveyard shift at the hospital. She is but a dream in the mind of a frustrated man whose life is on the verge of collapse, but Adam has something she wants and she will go to any extreme in acquiring her desires.

Gerald lives a lonely life in the Boulevard, a ghetto on the wrong side of the tracks. He's blind, but where his sense of vision is obsolete, his ability to communicate with the souls of the dead is acute. He fears nothing, having grown up on the mean streets, but on the night Barbara visits him that is about to change.

Who is this mysterious woman and what does she want so badly that she'll destroy anyone and anything that gets in her way? Can she bring two men from different backgrounds together for her bidding? How many people will have to die, and how many will wish death was the end?

"Robert Essig's voice is a beautiful thing. He wields it like a handcrafted baseball bat, and People of the Ethereal Realm is Essig at his finest, with a story that hits hard but leaves pretty scars."

--Craig Saunders, author of Rain and A Home by the Sea

"People of the Ethereal Realm is a wicked tale of possession and mayhem that is sure to unnerve the most seasoned horror fan! It's original, frightening, and very creepy! A ghost tale with razor sharp teeth! I loved it!"

--David Bernstein, author of Damaged Souls and Machines of the Dead

Available in print and kindle format HERE.

What Does Edward Lee Have to Say About DOA II?

This:

"Make sure your health insurance covers psychiatric counseling before reading this book, because you’re gonna need it. The experience of this collection may be likened to getting run over by a 666-car locomotive engineered by Lucifer. This is the cream of grotesquerie’s crop, a Whitman’s Sampler of the heinous, and an absolutely gut-wrenching celebration of the furthest extremities of the scatological, the taboo, the unconscionable, and the blasphemous.”

–EDWARD LEE, author of THE HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD and THE DUNWICH ROMANCE.

The next anthology from Blood Bound Books, DOA II, drops on July 4th. This book of depraved stories has a killer TOC, including my story "Dr. Scabs and the Hags of El Cajon."